Mining foes raise their voices

COLUMBIA — Mosquito-breeding pits are just one neighborhood scar Hardeeville residents don’t want to be left with, if a sand-mining company digs nearby.

“We will fight against this until the end,” J. Elbert and Gwendolyn Walsh promised state regulators in a letter.

Oakwood subdivision residents wrote to state officials to detail list their fears that the mine proposed by Reed-HTI, to be located 5 miles south of Hardeeville, would endanger their groundwater supply and leave useless, leaky canyons, despite the company’s plans to leave lakes for boating and fishing.

“Kingfisher Lake, which is part of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, is across the highway from the proposed mine (and) is very low and unusable as a lake,” wrote Oakwood Drive resident Ray Christian in a letter signed by 11 others, including residents of Sawgrass Street.

“We have a small, quiet community, and we would like to keep it that way,” they wrote.

The letter was submitted to the state Division of Mining and Solid Waste Management, which is part of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick said officials had spoken with some residents in order to learn more about their concerns.

The residents’ request for a public hearing next month at Hardeeville City Hall has been granted and will give them another chance to ask questions and air objections.

The 5-year permit would be for 110 acres located within a mile of the Savannah Wildlife Refuge and bordered to the north and south by wetlands. Reed has described the site, which hasn’t been mined before, as mainly scattered hardwood trees and planted pine trees.

In its application to DHEC, the company lists a Berkeley Hall Boulevard address in Bluffton, and states that it plans to dig a sand mine 20-25 feet deep. There are currently 13 mines in Jasper County, six in Beaufort County, and 540 active mine permits statewide, according to a state database.

Indeed, for the Walsh couple, sand mines are a familiar nuisance.

“We are very disturbed about this mining,” they wrote.

“We DO NOT want this to happen! It will be no more than a mosquito haven. It will destroy my property value, and right down the street someone mined the sand there, and now it is just a big hole.”

What: Public hearing on proposed Jasper County sand mine. This is a chance for the public to comment on the proposed mine. DHEC staff will discuss the application and the company’s plans to operate the mine and its reclamation plan.

Comments: Another round of written comments will also be accepted after the hearing until 5 p.m. on Sept. 28. Mail them to Marianna DePratter at SCDHEC, BLWM/ DMSWM, 2600 Bull St., Columbia, S.C. 29201.